Tag: history

Blog Tour/Book Review: Monopoli Blues by Tim Clark & Nick Cook

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Monopoli Blues BT Poster

I’m delighted to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for  Monopoli Blues by Tim Clark & Nick Cook which recounts a son’s journey to uncover the story of his parents service in war-time special forces.  Thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to participate and to Unbound for my review copy.

Watch the trailer for Monopoli Blues here

Praise for Monopoli Blues:

‘Lucidly written, deeply researched and extremely well-structured … a remarkable act of imagination and filial homage’ William Boyd, New Statesman

‘Powerful … this is the reality of war behind the headlines’ Jonathan Dimbleby

‘A gripping tale of wartime exploits, an unlikely love story, and a son’s journey to discover his father’s secret war’ Joshua Levine, author of Dunkirk

Monopoli BluesAbout the Book

In November 1944, Sub Lt Bob Clark, a twenty-year old agent with Britain’s top-secret Special Operations Executive, parachuted into northern Italy.

He left behind the girl he had fallen in love with, Marjorie, his radio operator. Captured by the enemy, Bob’s fate hangs in the balance and Marjorie won’t know for six months whether he is alive or dead…

Monopoli Blues recounts the story of Tim Clark’s journey to uncover the story of his parents’ war – and the truth behind the betrayal of his father’s Clarion mission to the Nazis.

Format: Paperback (288 pp.)    Publisher: Unbound
Published: 13th June 2019  Genre: History, Non-Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Monopoli Blues on Goodreads

My Review

The book is clearly the product of painstaking research involving the piecing together of facts from a myriad of sources: contemporary accounts, personal interviews, archive records and historical works. And an unexpected treasure trove that provides a touching insight into the relationship between Tim Clark’s mother and father. I found the accounts of the trips made by Tim in an effort to recreate his father’s journeys particularly compelling.

Along the way, there are portraits of remarkable and colourful characters who served with the SOE; singular individuals whose former experiences ranged from big-game fishing, managing a rubber plantation manager or competing as a world-class athlete. Often the success of operations seems to have been determined by nothing more than charm, ingenuity and bravado – along with, of course, remarkable courage. There’s also fascinating information about the setting up of the SOE and the training of its operatives.

The authors create a compelling picture of the contrast between periods of boredom whilst waiting for operations to commence and intense moments of danger once they’d begun. Often these took place under cover of darkness never very far from the possibility of running into enemy troops and with dire consequences if captured. Not to mention the very chaotic situation they often found on the ground with rival factions of partisans competing for supplies. And one can’t forget the information vacuum endured by those waiting for news of their loved ones.

Monopoli Blues is a touching portrait of a loving relationship, a compelling account of wartime bravery and a fitting commemoration of, as Paddy Ashdown writes in his foreword to the book, ‘perfectly ordinary people’ who did extraordinary things. In its detailed account of SOE operations in Italy the book makes fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in military history and the events of WW2. However, the personal nature of the story makes it accessible to anyone.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, Unbound, and Random Things Tours.

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In three words: Painstakingly-researched, inspiring, compelling

Tim Clark and Nick CookAbout the Authors

Tim Clark spent a large part of his career working as a lawyer at one of the world’s leading firms specialising in M+A and corporate work in the UK and internationally, ultimately becoming Senior Partner. Since retiring as a lawyer, Tim has taken on board positions on a number of corporate, arts and charitable organisations, and senior advisory roles at a number of international think tanks.

Nick Cook is an author, journalist, broadcaster and entrepreneur. In 1986, he joined the world-renowned Jane’s Defence Weekly, initially as a reporter, rising quickly to become Aviation Editor, a position he held until 2005. His first novel, Angel, Archangel, was published in 1989 to critical acclaim. In 2001, Cook’s first non-fiction title, The Hunt For Zero Point, was published, reaching Number 1 in Amazon’s Non-Fiction charts. He has also written, hosted and produced two documentaries about the world of aerospace and defence – Billion Dollar Secret and an Alien History of Planet Earth . He lives and works with his wife and two children in London.

Book Review: Song of Praise for a Flower by Fengxian Chu and Charlene Chu

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Song of Praise for a FlowerAbout the Book

For nearly two decades, this manuscript lay hidden in a Chinese bank vault until a long-lost cousin from America inspired 92-year-old author Fengxian Chu to unearth it.

Song of Praise for a Flower traces a century of Chinese history through the experiences of one woman and her family, from the dark years of World War II and China’s civil war to the tragic Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, and beyond. It is a window into a faraway world, a sweeping epic about China’s tumultuous transformation and a harrowing yet ultimately uplifting story of a remarkable woman who survives it all and finally finds peace and tranquillity.

Chu’s story begins in the 1920s in an idyllic home in the heart of China’s rice country. Her life is a struggle from the start. At a young age, she defies foot-binding and an arranged marriage and sneaks away from home to attend school. Her young adulthood is thrown into turmoil when the Japanese invade and ransack her village. Later her family is driven to starvation when Mao Zedong’s Communist Party seizes power and her husband is branded a ‘bad element.’  After Mao’s death in the 1970s, as China picks up the pieces and moves in a new direction, Chu eventually finds herself in a glittering city on the sea adjacent to Hong Kong, worlds away in both culture and time from the place she came from.

Format: eBook, paperback (488 pp.)                    Publisher:
Published: 21st November 2017    Genre: Memoir, History, Non-Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Song of Praise for a Flower on Goodreads

My Review

Sometimes you read a book that puts everyday petty concerns into perspective.   Song of Praise for a Flower is such a book.

The subtitle ‘One Woman’s Journey through China’s Tumultuous 20th Century’ barely does justice to the remarkable story of Fengxian Chu contained within the book.  It’s a story that her cousin, Charlene Chu, helped translate from manuscript into book form, adding historical and cultural context where necessary but never losing Fengxian’s powerful narrative voice.

Fengxian’s story takes the reader on a journey from the constraints of a traditional Chinese upbringing through separation, bereavement, ostracism, poverty, near starvation, physical hardship and cruelty – some at the hands of individuals and even family members, some at the hands of the state.  Such is the suffering depicted, that at times it is definitely not an easy read.

However, it’s also compelling as a story of determination, fortitude, love and triumph over adversity.  It’s also a source of great wisdom:

  • ‘One important lesson I have learned is that happiness does not fall from the sky; it is earned through painstaking effort.’
  • ‘Age gives us wisdom, but it doesn’t always give us answers.’
  • ‘Life can be a song or a whine. I prefer to sing.’

Along the way, the reader learns much about Chinese culture, customs and ways of thinking and the events of a period of extraordinary political and cultural change in China’s history.  Probably the aspect I found most difficulty with was Fengxian’s seemingly fatalistic attitude to life.  Even when poverty results in family bereavement, she ascribes this to ‘bad fate’, believing ‘good fate’ would have seen the bereaved born into a wealthier family. To me, this seemed to contradict some of Fengxian’s belief in the importance of effort in attaining happiness.

How Fengxian survived what she did and lived to tell the tale is both amazing and inspiring.  In her dedication, Fengxian writes: ‘It is my own belief that one of the most priceless possessions one has in this world is his or her story.  Each life is a drama.  Some scenes are sweet and joyful, others tragic and sad. But what is most important is one’s performance…reaction in the face of adversity, and…willingness to participate.’

Judge for yourself by reading an excerpt from the book here.

I was introduced to the opportunity to read this book thanks to Penny at Author Marketing Expert and received a review copy courtesy of its co-author, Charlene Chu.  Song of Praise for a Flower was a book I read for the Nonfiction November reading challenge.

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In three words: Inspiring, dramatic, uplifting

Try something similar… (fiction) The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck or (nonfiction) The Inn of the Sixth Happiness [original title: The Small Woman] by Alan Burgess

About the Author – Fengxian Chu

Raised in Hunan Province, China, Fengxian Chu spent most of her life living and working on a farm. She attended college briefly, but her education was interrupted when the Japanese army invaded her village in the 1940s. A writer and poet from a young age, she is unique among her generation of rural Chinese women, the majority of whom never attended school and are illiterate. Song of Praise for a Flower is Fengxian’s first work to be published, and among the only known first-person accounts from a woman of her generation about life during China’s turbulent past century. Now in her 90s, she enjoys gardening and spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. She resides in Shenzhen, China.

Charlene ChuAbout the Author – Charlene Chu

Co-author Charlene Chu, Fengxian’s first cousin, grew up in the United States and wrote the English rendering of Song of Praise for a Flower. A financial analyst well-known for her work on China’s economy and financial sector, she is quoted widely in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Business Insider and other media outlets. She holds an MBA and MA in International Relations from Yale University. Song of Praise for a Flower is her first book. Charlene splits her time between Washington, DC and Hong Kong. (Photo credit: Goodreads author page)

Connect with Charlene

 Facebook  ǀ Goodreads